In “Critical Essay on “The Poisonwood Bible”” (2007), Wendy Perkins thoroughly examines the various ways that the Price women handle the emotional trauma of their Kilanga experience and determines which woman suffers the most . Perkins reasons that Kilanga affects Orleanna and Leah more than Adah and Rachel by juxtaposing the women's degree of guilt ("least affected" to "burden ...overwhelming") with the degree of interaction they had with Nathan Price. She highlights the amount that each woman cared for Nathan in order to show how hard it is for each of them to leave him and Africa behind. Perkins formats her essay

In "Chosen people: American exceptionalism in Kingsolver's the poisonwood bible" (2008) Susan Strehle suggests that Kingsolver's novel is a political allegory with symbolic meaning littered throughout the entire plot. Contrary to other literary critiques of the Poisonwood Bible Strehle juxtaposes how the United States' double-standard mindset throughout their "intervention in the Congo (Kunz)" compares to the ignorant missionary motives of the Price family (2).Strehle critiques the novel from this unique perspective in order to create a catalyst for the literary community to analyze new themes hidden in "The Poisonwood Bible". Strehle blatantly addresses the literary community in her essay, she believes critics have devalued, simplified, and missed the complexity of the novel and reveals some of her notes to rekindle Poisonwood analysis.